Having missed out on Gonzalo Higuain to AC Milan, Chelsea are set to go into the new season with Alvaro Morata, Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud as their striker options.
New head coach Maurizio Sarri had hoped for a reunion with Higuain at Stamford Bridge with the pair enjoying a fantastic relationship during their time at Napoli.
Before moving to Juventus in the summer of 2016, Higuain managed to score an incredible 36 goals in 35 Serie A appearances under the tutelage of Sarri in his last campaign in Naples.
However, with the Argentina international now at AC Milan, Sarri will have to rely on Morata, Batshuayi and Giroud to grab him goals up front.
Which one Sarri will opt to use as his first-choice centre-forward, though, remains to be seen.
Naturally, Morata, who was brought in for big money to fulfil that role and succeed Diego Costa, will be expected to get the nod ahead of both Batshuayi and Giroud.
But the Spaniard has not been able to shake off his poor form, which stretches all the way back to January, and has carried it into Chelsea’s pre-season.
Morata’s finishing has never been his greatest attribute but as well as continuing to be unconvincing in front of goal, the former Real Madrid man’s link-up play has fallen to an unacceptable level.
Quite frankly, at this moment of time, Morata is not a player Sarri can rely on and ultimately, the 59-year-old should consider ditching him for £36m-rated (via Transfermarkt) Batshuayi.
Batshuayi really struggled in ex-Chelsea boss Antonio Conte’s system, but flourished while out on loan at Borussia Dortmund.
And, despite his struggles in Conte’s set up, Batshuayi still looked like he was always capable of scoring – something which cannot be said about Morata.
Batshuayi’s hold-up play could definitely do with some improvement, but the Belgium international’s finishing is usually of a high standard and in a Sarri system that is renowned for creating tonnes of chances per game, he could be the perfect No.9 for the Italian.
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